Finally got Orchids!

[sinensispsyched]

I have a few of its siblings, but I don't have a phone or a camera capable of photographing these tiny things. I'm supposed to be getting an old iphone, so hopefully I'll be able to take pictures of mine.

From the looks of it, the one in the last picture is possibly male, as it doesn't have a notch in the last big abdominal segment.

As an L2, their abdominal segments shift between numbers too many times before finally staying in a final number. As an L4 the segments stop shifting, and a gender can be determined.

Mime: When they reach L3, please post. I will use your date to approximate when mine will molt.

 

[Mime454]

I have a few of its siblings, but I don't have a phone or a camera capable of photographing these tiny things. I'm supposed to be getting an old iphone, so hopefully I'll be able to take pictures of mine.

From the looks of it, the one in the last picture is possibly male, as it doesn't have a notch in the last big abdominal segment.

I've had all the iPhones. Anything past a 3GS should be able to get a good enough photo. iPhone 4S and 5's cameras are basically the same and take really good photos for a phone.

 

[giesle]

Mime: When they reach L3, please post. I will use your date to approximate when mine will molt.

Several of mine from that batch have clear dead skin on the bottom of the enclosure underneath them this morning, so there ya go.....

 

[Mime454]

Several of mine from that batch have clear dead skin on the bottom of the enclosure underneath them this morning, so there ya go.....

Two of mine have stopped eating, so they're probably about to molt. Got kinda mad because I spent 30 minutes catching these big fruit flies from the kitchen for them and only one ate them!

 

[sinensispsyched]

I think mine will molt tonight! Are yours acting sorta tipsy? Mine are.

 

[Mime454]

Don't know. Mine don't move around much. Kind of a boring, yet beautiful, species.

 

[sinensispsyched]

Same. One of the most beautiful of all mantids, but other than that they're pretty inactive.

If I have a female, I'll either name it Flora or Aphrodite!

 

[Mime454]

Same. One of the most beautiful of all mantids, but other than that they're pretty inactive.

If I have a female, I'll either name it Flora or Aphrodite!

I don't normally name mantises, but I might name these orchids. I want to name the female that I have Lilly.

 

[sinensispsyched]

Aphrodite (the Greek goddess of beauty). (Copyright).

 

[Ranitomeya]

One of mine molted yesterday to L3, so yours should be nearing a molt. I think it might be female, it's just so darned difficult to look at their abdomens and get them to stand still and not jump at your face while you do it.

I hadn't realized it had molted at first, I was feeding them fruit flies and I noticed how hungry it was and how skinny it looked. It was only after I watched it eat a few fruit flies that I noticed there was a very transparent exoskeleton at the bottom of its deli cup. I wonder if orchids harden their exoskeletons fairly quickly at their younger instars.

Edit: It is actually possible to sex an L2, just very difficult. You're not looking at the number of abdominal segments at early instars but rather the really tiny notch in one of the abdominal segments in the females that the males lack. There are photos of this online somewhere on L2 orchids.

 

[sinensispsyched]

It is actually possible to sex an L2, just very difficult. You're not looking at the number of abdominal segments at early instars but rather the really tiny notch in one of the abdominal segments in the females that the males lack. There are photos of this online somewhere on L2 orchids.

Sorry, I am still a newbie. Can you tell?

Yeah! That means that there's a good chance he/she will molt tonight! I'm so excited!

 

[angelofdeathzz]

The best way to easily sex them young is the males have far smaller leg plates and are thinner in the abdomen, after L3 or so the females(with the larger leg plates) also get a green horizontal stripe on their back, all this can be seen very easily with out a magnifying glass or trying to make them keep still.

 

[selkielass]

Pretty little things!